India holds the record for the world’s deadliest roads

Unfortunately for the country’s road users, the trend is only going upwards – more automotive related fatalities are counted in India than in any other country in the world.

Figures coming from the World Bank show that while India only holds 1% of the world’s motorized vehicles, the death toll rises to 15% of all global fatalities. No wonder, since the country has a vast array of contributing factors – relaxed law enforcement, highly untrained drivers and a network of roads that was poorly designed and set up for less traffic.

“Neither the rich and powerful nor the poor can escape the fury of our killer roads,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, an executive director at the Centre for Science and Environment in New Delhi.

“Things are getting progressively worse in this country,” says Yogesh Rao, an Indian driver. “People don’t follow the rules, they frequently drive on the wrong side of the road, and there’s a general lawlessness.”

According to the Indian Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, in 2012, on the country’s roads there were 138,258 fatalities – with 159.5 million registered motor vehicles. In comparison, in the US 33,561 people died on the roads, while there are around 100 million more vehicles in the country than in India.